When will exchange of contracts occur in purchase conveyancing in South West London and am I required to be at the lawyers branch?

Where you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in South West London you are welcome to come in to sign documents. That being said, the law practices we recommend supply countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when dealing with you by post or email. The executing of the property agreement is not the important part. A signed contract simply enables the firm to officially exchange when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in South West London)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.

We had chosen solicitors locally in South West London on the Nationwide solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a further fee for handling the Nationwide mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Nationwide?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancer may charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Nationwide but by your South West London conveyancer. Plenty of firms on the Nationwide panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but some firms incorporate it on their overall fee.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Barclays. I assume I don't need a South West London conveyancer on the Barclays panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.

If you have finished paying off your Barclays mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Barclays mortgage from the register. Barclays, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where Barclays has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. Barclays has instructed the Land Registry to do so

Co-operative have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a property in South West London has been agreed to, what are the next steps?

The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (be sure the solicitors are on the bank’s approved list). Contact Co-operative or your broker and finalise any relevant forms. Co-operative will instruct a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or owners to schedule an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average ten days to receive the mortgage offer. Co-operative will send the offer to you and your conveyancing practitioners. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in South West London.

I used Stirling Law several years past for my conveyancing in South West London. Now, I need the files but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?

You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in South West London of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.

I have been advised by a number of selling agents in South West London to get a quote from a conveyancer using your seach tool. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers rather than a competitor’s?

We don’t offer any financial incentive for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in South West London. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a South West London conveyancing firm to help?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a South West London conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a South West London flat is 78 & 80 Newport Road in January 2013. the Tribunal concluded that the premium to be paid by the leaseholder in respect of the freehold reversion is £23,105 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 71.63 years.